A worker harvests mushrooms at a cultivation base in Minning, a town in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, April 15, 2021. Minning, located in a desert area, has greatly developed economically since Ningxia established pairing-off poverty-alleviation cooperation with Fujian province in 1996. [Photo by Hu Dongmei/chinadaily/com.cn]

Cooperation between Fujian province in East China and the northwestern Ningxia Hui autonomous region will start a new chapter once Ningxia has shaken off poverty and begun rural vitalization work, said Ma Hancheng, member of the Standing Committee of the region's Party Committee.

Such cooperation has played an important role in Ningxia's poverty alleviation efforts and the mutual prosperity of the two regions, he added, speaking last month.

Ningxia has lifted all nine of its impoverished counties out of absolute poverty, with villagers' average disposable annual incomes rising to 11,624 yuan ($1,790) at the end of last year from 6,818 yuan in 2015.

More than 1.2 million people have been relocated from uninhabitable areas and many have started businesses with financial and technological support from the Fujian government.

"An upgraded collaboration is needed for a new beginning to meet people's higher life expectations," Ma said.

With the help of companies from Fujian, Ningxia is planning to build industrial parks to produce specialty goods and sell them in the eastern regions. "We will not only grow well, but also sell well," Ma said.

As such, healthy, organic food, catering to a broader market, will be developed in addition to regular agricultural produce.

Large-scale industrial clusters incubating domestic brands are also seeing high demand domestically, Ma added.

Ningxia lags behind in terms of technology and talent, which are the strengths of Fujian, while the nine pillar industries－including goji berries, wine, milk, clean energy, tourism and Tan sheep－can be better developed.

In September, the regional government decided to prioritize development in the nine fields.

Improvements are expected in areas such as education and medical care, Ma said, adding that the goal is to balance high-quality resources in the region.

Chen Chunping, director of the Ningxia finance bureau, said 11.2 billion yuan will be allocated this year to consolidate the poverty alleviation achievements and to prevent villagers from sliding back into poverty.

"We will strengthen support for counties that are developing major industries such as goji berries and wine," Chen said last month.

The bureau provided 50 million yuan to help a wine company mitigate the impact of COVID-19, which provided jobs for 3,000 relocated villagers, he added.